The performance and processing capabilities of computers has shown tremendous and steady growth over the past few decades. Not surprisingly, computing systems, such as servers, are becoming more and more complex, often equipped with an increasing number and type of components, such as processors, memories, and add-on cards. Most experts agree this trend is set to continue far into the future.
However, with a growing number and complexity of hardware components, computing systems are increasingly vulnerable to device failures. Indeed, a device failure is a moderately common problem faced by system administrators, particularly in larger, more complex environments and architectures such as datacenters and rack scale architectures. Unfortunately, device failures can be very disruptive. For example, device failures can disrupt computing or network services for extended periods and, at times, may even result in data loss.
To correct a device failure, system administrators often have to perform a manual hardware recovery process. This hardware recovery process can include powering down a system or service to replace a failed system component. The overall recovery process can be inefficient and may result meaningful disruptions in service to the users. Moreover, the reliance on user input to complete certain steps of the recovery process can further delay the system's recovery and cause greater disruptions to users.